Garment cuff



June 16, 1953 s. F. STEIN GARMENT CUFF Filed March 28, 1949 H 55% II. :1

M .m. 4 B iv: 2 B .I O\ I I I I I I a m v5 M u e I VA? 2% INVENTOR Patented June 16, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

My invention relates to garments and particularly to shirts, blouses and jackets comprising sleeves having wrist encirclingcuffs at the ends thereof. The object of my invention is to construct a cuff in such a manner whereby the sleeve length may readily be altered to meet the requirement of a particular wearer.

Taking mens dress shirts as an example, the sleeve lengths of same generally range from 31 inches to 35 inches. A shirt having a sleeve length shorter than 31 inches is very seldom produced by shirt manufacturers. This situation is consequently confronted with a difficult problem to meet the requirement of persons demanding sleeve lengths shorter than 31 inches. This difficulty is definitely obviated by the novel cuff construction set forth in detail in the present specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates a portion of a shirt sleeve comprising a plain cuff, extended in flat form to render a clear illustration, showing the outside of the cuff;

Fig. 2 illustrates the cuff shown in Fig. 1, converted into the form of a French cuff;

Fig. 3 illustrates the innerside of the cuff shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 illustrates on enlarged scale a cross section on line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the innerside ply of the cuff, its complementary outer ply and the intermediary stiffening therebetween.

Fig. 5 is a cross section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Figure 6 illustrates a cuff structure comprising a button attached thereto for closing the plain cuff as well as when it is converted to a French cuff; in either case only one of the lower button holes will be employed;

Figure '7 shows diagrammatically the fold of the French cuff as having been changed to a different line than what is shown in Figures 1 and 5, as will be explained further in the specification.

Referring to the drawings:

l0 represents a portion of a shirt sleeve; ll represents a cuff known as a plain cuff, showing the cuff tailored in accordance with my invention as it normally appears. Let us assume the sleeve length is 31 inches, and the wearer requires a sleeve length that measures 28 inches. In this event, as shown in Fig. 2, the cuff l l is folded over upward, taking thus the form of a cuff known as a French cuff, and assuming that the width of cuff II was 2 inches when in the form of a plain cuff, the sleeve length is thus shortened to 28 inches when the cuff takes the form of a French cufi. Should a person require a 29 inch sleeve length, a plain cuff of a 32 inch sleeve would meet such a requirement. It will be seen that in order to render cuff ll capable of being manipulated in the manner described herein, the cuff construction must necessarily be practicable to be interchanged at will from a plain cuff to a French cuff or vice versa. My cuff construction described herein renders such a manipulation possible and which cannot be accomplished with the ordinary construction of cuffs, be it either a plain cuff or French cuff construction, as will be explained.

To produce a French cuff as ordinarily constructed, the cuff comprises two plies, each ply being equal to substantially twice the dimension of a plain cuff of ordinary construction. It is clearly seen that it would definitely be undesirable to convert the ordinary French cuff into the form of a plain cuff, because in that case, the latter would be wholly out of proportion in comparison with the dimension which a plain cuff calls for. Therefore a French cuff necessarily is to remain a French cuff when made in the customary way. And in the same manner, a plain cuff is inevitably destined to remain as it is and cannot be suitably converted into a French cuff, because the innerside ply of the ordinary plain cuff has not sufficient material to permit a desirable fold formation, appropriable to a French cuff mode.

Referring further to the drawings, [2 represents the outerside ply of cuff ll 13 represents the innerside ply thereof; l4 represents the intermediary stiffening ply between plies l2 and i3. Button holes [5 in relation with button holes l6 are provided to be suitably engaged by cuff links or other fastening devices when cuffs are worn in the form of French cuffs to close the cuff. However, when the cuffs are worn in the form of plain cuffs, button holes I5 would be all that would be employed. Button holes [6 are preferably positioned vertically in relation with button holes [5, for the reason that fold ll associated with the French cuff formation could thus be changed to a different fold line HA when desired, in order to prevent excessive wear at that point which may cause the cuff material to fray or wear out when the material is folded always on the same line (see Figure 7).

'It will be seen that the outer ply I2, is of the same dimension (about 2%; inches) as would be required for the formation of a plain cuff, and thi dimension is that which is required for the formation of a French cuff inaccordance with my invention. However, the innerside ply I3 is wrong side of the sleeve material which often differs in appearance from the right side which 7 would be showing at the Wearers wrist if extension be absent thereat. The end edge 20 of extension I8 may be suitably attached to the sleeve material [0 by a line of stitching 2 l, or by blind stitching or other attaching means. tension l8 may be formed of a separate piece of material which will serve the purpose described and may also be cut on bias. However, it is preferred that extension l8 and ply I3 be formed of a single piece of material. Plies l2 and 13 may be formed either of a single piece of fabric or of separate pieces suitably joined at the end of the cuff.

Referring to Figure 6, instead of cuff links and other devices, the button and button hole arrangement may be used, and with the adaptation of the French cuff mode, the button 15B will pass through each of button holes 16, when it will engage with the adjacent button hole I50. In this case a shank button having a suitable neck construction would be desirable. Of course, with the above mentioned arrangement a button I5B would be employed for the purpose instead of button hole [5A.

Button holes and buttons or cuff links may be dispensed with and a clamp device may be employed for closing the cuff at the Wearers wrist. Such a device will clamp two thicknesses of the cuff in case of a plain cuff and four thicknesses in case of a French cuff.

The foregoing cufi construction solves a problem that has been a difficult problem to solve for a long time after numerous attempts have been made to secure an acceptable solution to the problem of sleeve lengths of Shirts, blouses, jackets and other kinds of garments to which my invention may apply.

When the cuff closure comprises the button and button hole arrangement as described and as shown in Figure 6, it, will be. noted that when the cuff is worn in the form of a plain cuff, this arrangement presents the rounded barrel cuff. fashion, in such a manner as a plain cuff? is generally worn. However, in the event that the latter be converted into a French cuff the cuff closure automatically changes. to the fashion appropriate to a French cuff. The four adjacent edges which pertain to a French cuff construction extending outwardly in relation to the Wearers wrist.

Instead of using a shank button as described above, the ordinary two or four-hole button may as well be used, which would be sewed by the ordinary buttonrsewing machine usually employed for sewing all the other buttons of the shirt, thus eliminating the necessity of employing a special clamp device generally used for attaching shank buttons. Of course, it depends on the thickness of the material of the cuff in order to determine what kind of buttons are to be used.

22 and 23 are complementary bound edges which constitute the usual cuif vent of the sleeve.

The end edge of the plain QUIT designated 4 by numeral 24; numerals 25 and 26 designate respective side edges of the cuff structure extending from the end edge 24 to the bound edges 22 and 23 respectively.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it is understood that the same is susceptible of modification in various forms without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I therefore desire that what I claim be given broad interpretation and be limited only by the prior art pertaining thereto.

I claim:

1. The combination with a sleeve of a garment of a convertible cuff construction, comprising an external ply of cuff material having one edge thereof secured on a line adjacent the free end of the sleeve and extending beyond the free end of said sleeve, said ply providing a free edge to the cuff, an interior ply of cuif material extending from said edge within said sleeve and having an edge secured to said sleeveinternally thereof on a line substantially spaced from said free end of the sleeve, the portion of the external ply between said first line of securement and the said free edge being of a width to provide'a plain cufi, the cuff construction being foldable outwardly and upwardly about the first line of securement with the interior ply exposed to provide a french cuff.

2. The combination with a sleeve of a garment of a convertible cufif construction, comprising an external ply of cuff material having one edge thereof secured on a line adjacent the free end of the sleeve and extending beyond the free end of said sleeve, said ply providing a free edge to the cuff, an interior ply of cuff material extending from said edge within said sleeve and having an edge secured to said sleeve internally thereof on a line substantially spaced from said free end of the sleeve, the portion of the external ply between said first line of securement and the said free edge being of a width to provide a plain cuff, the cuff construction comprising opposed side edges and being foldable outwardly and upwardly about the first line of securement with the interior ply exposed to provide a french cuff, a button adjacent one side edge of the cuff attached to the exterior ply, a button hole adjacent the opposite side edge of the. cuff for engagement with said button, button holes above the upper edge of said exterior ply suitably spaced from the aforesaid former button hole and the aforesaid button, respectively.

3. The combination with a sleeve of a garment of a convertible cuff construction, comprising an external ply of cuff material having one edge thereof secured on a line adjacent the free end of the sleeve and extending beyond the free end of said. sleeve, said ply providing a free edge to the cufi, an interior ply' of cuff material extending from said edge within said sleeve and having an edge secured tosaid sleeve internally thereof on a line substantially spaced from said free end of the sleeve, the portion of the external ply between said first line of securement and the said free edge being of a width to provide a plain cuff, the cufi construction being foldable outwardly and upwardly about the first line of securement with the interior ply exposed to prowide a french cufi andfastening means above the upper edge of said exterior ply to engage in separable relation with complementary means below said upper edge for maintaining the french cuff in its foldedposition.

4. The combination with a sleeve of a garment of a convertible cufi construction, comprising an external ply of cuff material having one edge thereof secured on a line adjacent the free end of the sleeve and extending beyond the free end of said sleeve, said ply providing a free edge to the cuff, "an interior ply of cuff material extending from said edge within said sleeve and having an edge secured to said sleeve internally thereof on a line substantially spaced from said free end of the sleeve, the portion of the external ply between said-first line of securement and the said free edge being of a width to provide a plain cufi, the cuff construction being folclable outwardly and upwardly about the first line of securement with the interior ply exposed to pro- 6 vide a french cuil,'and fastening means spaced above the upper edge of said exterior ply to en- SAMUEL F. s'rnm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name I Date 2,299,982' Harrison "Oct. 27, 1942 2,327,348 Giusefii Aug. 24, 1943 

